Just returned from Carnival Triumph Cruise!

[djo631]

First off, to all the posters who are worried about this "older ship", for heavens sakes it was built in 1999. Its only 8-9 years old. If you go on board looking for a bad time, that is what you will get. Were lines long...yes. Was getting on and off the ship a pain in the rear...yes. But is that the fault of the ship...no. The Triumph is in great shape, we loved the crew. Who cares about the darn hot tubs??? Do you want to fight with all the kids that were playing in them??? (and we went in early May with very few kids). Those hot tubs are disgusting breeding grounds for all kinds of bacteria anyways.

 

Anyway, just prepare youself for some lines, lots of walking, and lots of fun!!! :) Relax..you are on vacation!!!

 

 

Mark

[camdencruiser]

Hey gang,

 

I found this website shortly before we cruised on the Triumph. We left on May 21st and came home May 26th. Our stops were Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk.

 

Overall, we had a BLAST. Our oceanview cabin was HUGE. We also had the very best room stewart possible. His name was Rodel and he rocked. He made the best towel animals and was extremely attentive.

 

The best ports were St. Thomas and San Juan. I guess Carnival just acquired Half Moon Cay this year, and well...there wasn't much there. Didn't help that we got completely rained out of that port.

 

Grand Turk was ok, but St. Thomas and San Juan blew everything else out of the water. I highly recommend the SNUBA excursion on St. Thomas and the Old San Juan shopping trip.

 

I have a question for experienced cruisers. Have you ever complained to Carnival about your cruise experience? We had several issues that I feel should be shared with them. Doubting that Carnival would respond...but I still feel they should know about our trip with them.

 

Highlights of our complaints:

Ship was not clean, horrible procedures upon check-in, Broken elevators throughout the week, Closed decks most of the trip, terrible attitude of most of the wait staff, bad food at dinner, poor selection of foods all week, outragious photo prices, TV not working, bad attitudes from servers when using the Coke card, sewage smell on last day, extremely HOT shower water that could not be modified, all ports experienced bad weather, Half Moon Cay had nothing to offer, Baggage guy ran over my husbands foot and didn't apologize, Bellman dropping luggage from 10 foot +, the water slide closed for all but the first day, almost everything closed on the last full day at Sea.

 

So now I sound like a total fuddy duddy. But, I don't think we'll sail Carnival again due to our experience. Anyone ever have any good results from sharing your experience directly with Carnival?

 

Thanks,

 

Danielle

My wife and I just returned from cruising on the Carnival Triumph 5/5 - 5/12/07 and we had a wonderful time. The ship was clean, the sevice was great and the food was excellent. Our cabin steward went above & beyond the call, our two waitresses in the Paris dining room were just terrific. I didn't smell any sewer, the water slide was open every day and the elevators always worked. We had fabulous weather, loved the beach at Half Moon Cay and great excursions in St. Thomas, San Juan and Grand Turk. I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the Triumph and would definately sail her again.

[Hedocple]

First off, to all the posters who are worried about this "older ship", for heavens sakes it was built in 1999. Its only 8-9 years old. If you go on board looking for a bad time, that is what you will get. Were lines long...yes. Was getting on and off the ship a pain in the rear...yes. But is that the fault of the ship...no. The Triumph is in great shape, we loved the crew. Who cares about the darn hot tubs??? Do you want to fight with all the kids that were playing in them??? (and we went in early May with very few kids). Those hot tubs are disgusting breeding grounds for all kinds of bacteria anyways.

 

Anyway, just prepare youself for some lines, lots of walking, and lots of fun!!! :) Relax..you are on vacation!!!

 

 

Mark

 

You're right...It's not that old of a ship. That's why we would expect most features in working order.

You may not care if the hot tubs don't work but others do. We don't make use of the Casino, mini-golf, and many other features. Doesn't mean we want them removed. The fact is we as paying guest would hope that the ship is clean (which includes the daily care of the hot tubs), and that everything is in working order the way it was designed to be. If it needs to be pulled from service do it. Problem is Carnival would lose lots of money in lost revenue.

We cruise in 3 weeks. Hopefully we will be able to enjoy all the features we read about in the brochure. Features which helped us make our decision to choose Triumph to celebrate our daughter's high school graduation.

[LibraByTheSea]

OK! First, the hottub issue. I owned a company that sold hottubs. I do not understand how ANYONE would get into a "hot"tub with people sitting in there for hours with their buckets of beer. :eek: Not to mention the kids in there. Hot water is THE breeding place for all kinds of yukky things!!! Although I would NEVER use a public hottub...I would suggest the one in the spa because the buckets of beer, kids etc don't fo there. You will still have sweaty people just jump in right after their workout...your call!

 

Now to the Triumph. I will sail her for the 5th time in Oct. Do I expect the same ship as the first time I sailled her? No.....Why? Because the passengers have abused her. No one can deny that every ship they sail on has maintenance crews working around the clock...but still ships show wear. The last time I sailed on the Triumph was for a Singles Cruise in 2005. (got divorced in 03 and discovered Singles Cruises but that is a whole different thread) That that ship survived the 650+ crazy singles amazed me.

 

The time to complain about items not working is right then and there. Don't let it ruin the week...you can't get that back. And be persistant!!!!

 

I will share an experience I had on RCL Splendor of the Seas several years ago. Booked my first suite for a 10 circle the Caribbean. Looked forward to it for months. Beautiful ship. Awesome cabin, located directly below the ping pong table!!:( From sunrise til the wee hours we could hear the ping of the ball as it was hit off the table, followed by the thud-thud-thuds of the players chasing the ball. Remember-10 days. Went to the Pursers desk immediately, not only to complain but armed with a solution! RCL has a stargazing deck above the spa. Ping Ping Ping would not bother anyone. Or so you would think. We were assured..6am next day...ping ping..thud thud. Off to the Pursers Desk again....assured again. To cut to the chase, I complained, They assured, They NEVER tried to address the problem. To add to my frustration, I passed the Cruise Director on my way back to the Purser and hes said"what you want us to tell people they can't play ping pong?" and going to the Pursers Desk to ask for the Hotel Director at 8am after fighting with my DH (remember divorced now...lol) to be told he was still sleeping. At that...I went to the ping pong deck and apologized but said the ping pong would not be available for the remainder of the cruise (2 days and BTW several ports were cancelled due to the weather so we couldn't escape)

To cut to the chase...I complained and got as far as the Hotel Manager...tried the Captain but I think they warned him to hide from me:D

I have been on 25 cruises since that experience; however, none with RCL.

If they make no attempt to correct a passenger issue...don't cruise that line again BUT do not expect them to read your mind and then come back and complain.

I am sure some of you aren't going to like my comments but I felt a need.

[racyguy14619]

I will be along with LibraByTheSea in October. I'm expecting some wear and tear, just like I expect my 2001 Grand Cherokee to no longer be perfect. I'm looking forward to what I hear is a wonderful crew, and will let the little problems just roll off of my back. I agree with the posters who advise that if you look for a good time you'll have a good time -- I can't wait for this cruise :cool:

[dapembroidery]

Ok gang, I never meant this thread to scare ANYONE away from the Triumph or Carnival. Neither did I have such high expectations when cruising that I was 'looking' for something to complain about. Triumph was my first cruise, so overall--I was very pleased.

 

To recap and provide clarification to my original post...

 

The best ports were St. Thomas and San Juan. I guess Carnival just acquired Half Moon Cay this year, and well...there wasn't much there. Didn't help that we got completely rained out of that port. Since it rained during this entire day, NO ONE was able to go on excursions. Yes, they got their money back. But the rest of us either stayed on the ship or were stuck in the rain in tiny buildings on HMC. I'm sure had there been no rain here, it would have been an excellent port. Outside of the excursions and the beach itself, there was zero shopping to speak of. And we didn't get any BBQ; it was soggy burgers and hotdogs. That's all I'm going to say about that.

 

About the Weather--Obviously folks, I can't blame anyone for bad weather. HOWEVER, it would have been a novel idea for the Captain to have informed us of weather conditions upon arriving at ports so that we wouldn't get stuck for 3 hours waiting for a tender boat to come retrieve our soggy asses.

I live in Indiana people...Changing weather is my life. So, please stop beating me up about the weather. It was actually kindof funny that we felt like we had a black cloud following our ship around to all the ports. No, it didn't RUIN my vacation by any means either.

Grand Turk was ok, but St. Thomas and San Juan blew everything else out of the water. I highly recommend the SNUBA excursion on St. Thomas and the Old San Juan shopping trip. I didn't say anything negative here. These ports were great.

Although I did ask at the Excursion desk about renting scooters at Grand Turk and the guy told me that he could only talk to me about Carnival excursions. I was surprised at his response, but I know they don't run a business just to be nice. :)

My husband and I enjoyed St. Thomas and San Juan SO MUCH that I have even updated my resume and have been looking into jobs at either of these locations. So, yes--they were REALLY great ports people!

 

I agree that your vacation is what you make of it. And overall, we had a good vacation. I don't see anything wrong in pointing out some areas of concern to Carnival. I was raised to get what I pay for, and all I'm really saying is that there was room for improvement.

My husband is a Cancer survivor and I am the sole income in the house. So when I dished out $1400 to go on this cruise, it was a BIG deal for us. That's a lot of money for us to spend. Again, there is nothing wrong with making recommendations for improving customer service to Carnival.

And to whomever gets Rodel as a Room steward on the Triumph, you are VERY VERY LUCKY! He is the BOMB!!:D

[KU Cruiser]

We were also on thed Truimph from 5/19- 5/26. As a Carnival Vacation Club Member we received VIP embarkment, which was fantastic. We were on the AFT of the ship, Verandah deck, and never once had any trouble with the elevators, never once had any sewer smell, one evening I simply didn't like my entree choice and ordered another one, no problem, and the six of us age 20-43 had an absolutely wonderful time on the Triumph. (the 4 young adults were on the Riveria Deck and never once complained about sewer smell either)

 

At Half Moon Cay, it did poor down rain for about an hour, we camped out in a tiki hut and then proceeded to enjoy a nice lunch and spent the rest of the afternoon, about 3 hours, in the lovely Caribbean.

 

St. Thomas and Puerto Rico were wonderful as usual, and at Grand Turks my husband and son went Blue Water Fishing and had a blast. Our daughter and 2 friends went Snorkeling and I, the 42 year old mother, enjoyed Margarittaville all by myself, poolside listening to a very entertaining DJ for 4 hours. Heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We did not encounter any rude employees and as usual had a blast with our dining room staff, Dominic and Carlo.

 

For all of you that are booked for the Truimph, don't worry and remember no matter what, your on vacation in the Caribbean and not at work or school!

[sugarcoated]

we went on the triumph, May 5th to May 12th. A couple of tiny minor things got to us but at the end of the day it is one of the cheaper ships, on one of the cheaper lines (if not the cheapest) and you absolutely get what you pay for.

We had an AWESOME time, for anybody who is nervous please feel free to contact me and I will show you our online photo album.

 

if you look for problems you will find them, we vowed to try not and complain, just make the most of things and get on with having fun. I reccomend doing the same, who cares about your tv? did you go on a cruise round the carribean to watch the television?

 

we did however have excellent weather so never had any port problems, we had a few awful moments but life goes on, relax mon!

 

and after all that food, the stairs wont kill you!

[MissyB]

:confused: I am sailing on the Triumph in September. Does anyone have a good experience to share??? All of the complaints are worrying me! The weather is not as much of an issue to me as I understand the unpredictibility of the weather in that area however, cleanliness and the overall atmosphere of the ship, and it's employees, are important. I am fairly new to cruising and have only been on the Celebration prior. Does anyone know how the two compare?

[MissyB]

Would love to see your photos. We are traveling on the Triumph in Sept and would love to get a better feel for the ship.

[cruisingwiththegang]

We were on The Triumph on 3/31 to 4/7 and I have to say that we had a wonderful time. It was my first cruise and while I don't have another cruise to compare it to, I know that we had a blast.

WE didn't notice any sewer smell that week at all.

One day when we went to our cabin we did notice a strong chemical smell from shampooing the carpet in the hall.

At that time I thought that they probably had to clean up vomit or something, so the cleaning stuff smell was ok with us. It dissapated really quickly anyway.

The food was really good and the service was great.

The entertainment was good.

The elevators were working whenever we had to ride them.

The pools were closed at night and drained to be refilled in the morning.

I didn't use the hot tubs but others in our party did.

I am sailing on the Miracle next, as we would like to experience other ships, but I would not hesitate to go on he Triumph again.

Go on your cruise and enjoy it!

[MamaParrotHead]

click on the link in my signature.

 

I did have some complaints, but overall it was a great trip.

[patrice1]

DH & I did our first Carnival cruise on the Triumph last fall and we enjoyed it so much we're avowed CCL cruisers for the future! The staff were wonderful - every one we met was smiling & helpful. We thought the ship was very clean.

We were on the Upper deck aft port & never smelled sewer and also never had a shower problem.

The water slide was open because the weather was good - it closes when the weather is bad/rough.:rolleyes: As for the hot tubs, they were all open, but we weren't fighting the kids & beer-drinkers for a seat in a tepid "hot" tub.

Embarkation was a little goofy, but it sure beat our 4 hour NCL embarkation when the computers broke :eek: - also in Miami & really, really hot! My advice is that if you "have" to be off the ship early, do self-disembark.

Don't worry, I bet you'll love the Triumph.

[bcs819]

:confused: I am sailing on the Triumph in September. Does anyone have a good experience to share??? All of the complaints are worrying me! The weather is not as much of an issue to me as I understand the unpredictibility of the weather in that area however, cleanliness and the overall atmosphere of the ship, and it's employees, are important. I am fairly new to cruising and have only been on the Celebration prior. Does anyone know how the two compare?

 

Did you read the responses directly above you?

 

Have you used the "reviews" portion of this site and read the member reviews?

 

Since you are fairly new to cruising, I would advise you to read as many of the reviews in the Member reviews section as possible. Keep in mind that in any customer service industry, happy customers tend to say little while Unhappy customers tell 10 people. The fact that so many of the member reviews are positive statistically should indicate that more people are happy than unhappy.

 

I would also agree that waiting till you are home to complain will fix nothing. I don't wait at all anymore. On our one and only RCCL cruise, I was the 4th person in line to see the Maitre D' when he opened to switch to a table for a two. For three days we went to the buffet waiting for him to call with our table. After spending formal night in the buffet :( I finally went to the Purser to express my displeasure. Less than an hour later we were told we would have our own table that night at dinner. When we went to dinner, our waiters asked wher we had been all week - the table had been empty since the first night! (No flames - I know dinner is a risk we take) If I had followed up earlier - we would have been able to enjoy more dinners and our fabulous wait team.

 

Don't wait - speak up!

[nothomeonacruise]

The Triumph is a beautiful ship, with excellent food. Don't worry about, just go and have fun! We never smelled a sewer smell, never saw anything that was a problem, and never had a problem with our shower. We had cat. 11 suites. This time we've booked regular balconies and I'm hoping for an upgrade, or I might upgrade us anyway. (I'm spoiled what can I say)

 

The Port of Miami is an adventure unto itself..LOL You have to go with lots of patience. When I'm in cruise mode , there is NOTHING that's going to dampen my spirits.:)

[Ballwin Babe]

MissyB - I know how you feel.

 

Last fall I'd booked on the Celebrity Galaxy for a Med Cruise. Not only did our family of three book, but we had 8 other friends who had booked based SOLEY upon our recommendations.

 

Then...I started reading reports about the Galaxy having become a shop-worn rust-bucket not fit for the sea! YIKES! It wasn't just our family, but all these other people. I imagined their GLARES :eek: once aboard, after flying all that way and spending all that $$ money $$.

 

I was on pins and needles.

 

Well, once we boarded I breathed a huge sigh of relief! The ship was FINE. Yes, it was older. Yes, there were a few places which showed some wear, but nothing that I would have even noticed had I not been looking for problems.

 

Anyway, I am not minimizing the perceptions that are expressed here. I just want to say that many times things that are a problem for one will not always be a problem for another.

[robvan]

We cruised on the Triumph May 19-26. Other than the weather, while disappointing, yet uncontrollable, we had a fantastic time. We met some great people, very efficient,friendly crew, especially at the New World Pool bar and table 510 in the Paris Dining Room. The food was good and plentiful. There was plenty to do or not if we wanted while at sea. The shows were fun. The cabins comfortable and the service excellent. We had one day when our cabin was not made up until evening, but we were on shore and not there to worry about it. By the time we got back from dinner all was right.

Enjoy the Triumph and say HI to the evening bartender Stanimir at the New World Pool Bar from Rob-Anne!

[nothomeonacruise]

I'll look for Stanimir on my cruise. Hope he's still there! :)

[Bamacruz'n]

Hey gang,

 

I found this website shortly before we cruised on the Triumph. We left on May 21st and came home May 26th. Our stops were Half Moon Cay, St. Thomas, San Juan, and Grand Turk.

 

Overall, we had a BLAST. Our oceanview cabin was HUGE. We also had the very best room stewart possible. His name was Rodel and he rocked. He made the best towel animals and was extremely attentive.

 

The best ports were St. Thomas and San Juan. I guess Carnival just acquired Half Moon Cay this year, and well...there wasn't much there. Didn't help that we got completely rained out of that port.

 

Grand Turk was ok, but St. Thomas and San Juan blew everything else out of the water. I highly recommend the SNUBA excursion on St. Thomas and the Old San Juan shopping trip.

 

I have a question for experienced cruisers. Have you ever complained to Carnival about your cruise experience? We had several issues that I feel should be shared with them. Doubting that Carnival would respond...but I still feel they should know about our trip with them.

 

Highlights of our complaints:

Ship was not clean, horrible procedures upon check-in, Broken elevators throughout the week, Closed decks most of the trip, terrible attitude of most of the wait staff, bad food at dinner, poor selection of foods all week, outragious photo prices, TV not working, bad attitudes from servers when using the Coke card, sewage smell on last day, extremely HOT shower water that could not be modified, all ports experienced bad weather, Half Moon Cay had nothing to offer, Baggage guy ran over my husbands foot and didn't apologize, Bellman dropping luggage from 10 foot +, the water slide closed for all but the first day, almost everything closed on the last full day at Sea.

 

So now I sound like a total fuddy duddy. But, I don't think we'll sail Carnival again due to our experience. Anyone ever have any good results from sharing your experience directly with Carnival?

 

Thanks,

 

Danielle

 

We were on the Triumph 5/26 through 6/2 Western. This was our first cruise. We had a wonderful time. The ship is beautiful. We never had broken elevators, the trick was catching one before everybody else got

on there, but always working. Never smelled any sewage. Didn't see any

rust on anything. The service in the Paris dining room (best one) was the best ever. We loved our two waiters, Pongsakorn and Iketut! They were

awesome and we ate in the dining room every night. Our room steward, Arief was excellent. We never had to worry about not having clean towels. Every time we came back to our room, the bathroom was clean with clean towels. I had read horrible reviews before our trip and was a little worried, but I kept saying to my 2 SIL's that I could not believe people had given such bad reviews. There was nothing wrong with the ship the whole week. I guess maybe there are bad weeks when things don't work properly because as soon as you get off the ship, they turn around and load again. We were very fortunate and had a wonderful time. The ship is beautiful with a personality all its own. Can't wait to try another ship in the future, but would not hesitate to go on the Triumph again! Absolutely loved it!

[rucruizin]

I never said that I thought Carnival could control the weather...But they can and do (at least on other cruiselines) alter course when able to avoid poor weather conditions.

 

Ummmm...no they don't!

 

Our first cruise on Royal Caribbean, totally SUCKED! We did the Western Caribbean and experienced terrible weather until the last day. Rude employees, poor food selection, terrible room steward (who stole from us), the excursion from hell (which should have been cancelled), and just a generally unhappy experience for us. We were in port with a Carnival ship, in Cozumel. The passengers were happy, having a blast, and had done the same itinerary in reverse. They had perfect weather!

 

I thought much the same as you...why didn't RC change direction? After being on 15 cruises, I realize that much more is involved in switching ports. You don't just pull up, and see if there is an available parking space.

 

Port changes usually occur when there is a major hurricane, or tropical storm. It can be altered if there is civil unrest in a port, or other such problems.

 

I'm sorry you were disappointed with HMC. It is one of the reasons we chose this itinerary last year, and this year.

 

While I have had issues from time to time, with Carnival. I have been very pleased with the address of the problem, compensation for inconveniences, and overall general satisfaction with price. I can sail 2-3 times on Carnivl per year VS. once a year with the other lines.

 

Put me on a ship, and take me away...I'll be happy no matter what.:D

[rucruizin]

:confused: I am sailing on the Triumph in September. Does anyone have a good experience to share??? All of the complaints are worrying me! The weather is not as much of an issue to me as I understand the unpredictibility of the weather in that area however, cleanliness and the overall atmosphere of the ship, and it's employees, are important. I am fairly new to cruising and have only been on the Celebration prior. Does anyone know how the two compare?

 

 

Missi, I totally understand your concerns.

 

We sailed the Jubilee several years ago. We had only been on newer ships prior to that, and we would be on the Jubilee for 10 days. The ship was old, smelly, out dated, and tiny. The ship itself left much to be desired, but overall it was still the best cruise to date. There are many factors that go into a great cruise. We had perfect weather, good ports, great excurions, and we met a couple that was...like our soulmate couple. I have never laughed so hard in all my life. Nothing can compare to that cruise, but it had NOTHING to do with the ship, as it was a mess.

 

Go with a positive attitude, don't look for things to be wrong, smile, laugh, meet people. If things happen that you can control, then talk to someone who can help change it. If things that you can't control happen, then roll with it and realize that nothing is perfect.

 

My dad used to say" "If you can't say something nice (wait for it, cuz it isn't what you are thinking) FIND SOMETHING NICE TO SAY."